Surprise win to Linwood

Press, 13 April 1978, Page 6

Surprise win to Linwood

Even the most ardent o Linwood supporters must have been surprised at the ease with which their side dealt with Burnside at Denton Oval last evening. The game promised to be a hard, fast, and close encounter. It was certainly nol close as a rejuvenated Linwood outplayed its opponent in every' way. Linwood, scoring five tries, won 29-3. Bumside was on the back foot from the start. Its scrummaging could not match the drive of its more powerful opponent and, in the mauls, it was almost helpless. Linwood’s Robert Johns and David Rowe were an efficient combination at lock, while Tane Norton’s four tight-heads highlighted the difference between the packs. If the differences up front were noticeable, the contrast in the two backlines was even more marked, with Burnside often seeming to be playing at random as passes ' went astray and tackles were missed. Linwood’s new half-back, Graham Paratt, kept things moving forward with an excellent display. Although he had the advantage of playing behind winning forwards, he gave an intelligent performance. His passing rarely failed to reach its mark and he kept his opposition guessing with his variations of Play.

ii The other star of the night (was undoubtedly Linwood's I'S’-ond five-eigiiths. Shane Gibbons, whose aggressive ■and sparkling attacking abiliIties found Burnsides defences lacking. ■ The All Black wing Terry [Mitchell, was in top form, [scoring two fine tries. i For Burnside, little went right. With the forward.- so often in reverse the backs found it extremely difficult to find any rhythm. The halfback. Phil Walters, was under constant pressure from the Linwood loose for- ! wards and his normally reliable passing suffered badly. Outside him, things went little better. Passes were dropped far too often, while the tackling was anything but adequate. Burnside rarely looked like putting points on the board. The result must have been a disappointment for the side which went into the season with justifiably high [hopes of getting into the top (bracket of the competition. [Much work needs to be done if this is to be achieved. | For Linwood, the result must be a good omen for the rest of the season and a rebuttal to the critics who said [that it was in a decline. Score: Linwood 29 (T. Mitchell (two), G. Paratt, B. Hanhan, R. Koha tries; R. Johns three conversions; Hanhan a dropped goal) beat Burnside 3 (J. Lindsay a penalty goal).